Of course, they're doing something they find meaningful. But what else makes them so darn positive?

By Jena Pincott

Photo: Thinkstock

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They're always giving a minute—or 10—away.

They have 230 emails, 23 voicemails and 13 items on their priority to-do list. So when the junior associate asks for help with her report, what do they say? "Sure." Because—conscious of it or not—offering to lend a hand to others at work actually makes us happier, found a study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (as long as you're not giving so much time away that you can't complete your own work). "Work altruists" are 10 times more likely to be motivated at work, found Achor—and, no surprise, they're likelier to get promoted, too. Plus, an experiment at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School showed that when people helped others for just 10 to 30 minutes a day, they actually felt less time-constrained—it's part of the afterglow of feeling more capable, confident and useful. At the end of the day, after all the signatures are in place and the numbers crunched, it's the human connection that gives work meaning. Which is also why...